Road honors fallen officer: Stretch dedicated in memory of state trooper killed in line of duty

By Jessica Squires
First Posted: August 31, 2012 - 10:11 pm
Last Updated: August 31, 2012 - 10:16 pm

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Tribune photo by Aaron Piper/ Indiana State Senator Johnny Nugent presents George Brown, Mukwonago, Wis., and his sister Judy Hice, West Chester Ohio, left of Brown, with a sign renaming a portion Indiana State Road 11 in honor of the siblings father Earl L. Brown. Indiana State Trooper Earl Brown was killed in the line of duty on August 31, 1955 while searching a suspicious suspect.

Tribune photo by Aaron Piper/ Earl Browns great granddaughter, Isabel Brown of Mukwonago, Wis. holds a sign that will be displayed on a portion of Indiana State Road 11. Indiana State Trooper Earl Brown died in the line of duty while searching a suspicious person in August 31, 1955.

A one-mile stretch of State Road 11 was dedicated Friday to the memory of an Indiana State Police trooper who was killed in the line of duty 57 years ago.

State Sen. Johnny Nugent, R-Lawrenceburg, presented signs similar to those now marking the mile marker 44 on State Road 11 to the family of Trooper Earl L. Brown at the dedication. Nugent co-authored a resolution for a memorial, which was enacted by the General Assembly this year.

“It’s an honor for me to take part in it,” Nugent said. “It takes a special individual to provide that kind of service, and I am forever grateful for that kind of dedication.”

Brown was killed Aug. 31, 1955, on State Road 11, known at the time as U.S. 31A. He died about 400 feet south of the Jackson County line with Bartholomew County, after being shot twice by a man described at the time as “demented.”

Local law enforcement officials consider Brown the only police officer from Bartholomew County killed in the line of duty.

The shooting occurred as Brown, a 15-year state police veteran who was assigned to the Seymour post, and Columbus Police Officer Bill Weddle were investigating a report of a man walking along the road carrying a shotgun and acting strangely, according to news reports at the time.

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